


A Tutorial on Hugging

by Offendedfish



Series: Reasons Why Eddie is Stressed. [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Hellblazer
Genre: Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Child Neglect, Gen, Hugging, Hurt/Comfort, John Constantine Needs A Hug, John constantine is not equipped to baby sit let alone parent, The child neglect is not from constantine, a little ooc, a lot of swearing, a terrible attempt at writing accents, age small, bruce wayne is child whisperer, dc can bite me, feral child, how do you hold a feral 8 year old, posh bird
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:53:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26333683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Offendedfish/pseuds/Offendedfish
Summary: John Constantine is a little out of his depth when it comes to children especially when said child is more than a handful. Help comes from an unexpected place.orMy excuse to write ill-equipped parent + unexpectedly cuddly person
Relationships: Batman & original character, John Constantine & Original Character(s), John Constantine & Original Female Character(s), John Constantine & Original Male Character, John Constantine/Zatanna Zatara
Series: Reasons Why Eddie is Stressed. [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1884871
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	A Tutorial on Hugging

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Ruta is a brat but I think he sounds just like my little cousin. Also, this was written purely because I miss hugging my cousin. Pandemics suck. Maya doesn't belong to me. My friend Riya owns her. She's a really good artist and writer. Visit her @birdy-bat-writes on Tumblr.

Ruta knows it hadn't started out like this.

He remembers when his mother used to try and help him read. She tried her best but the shapes on the page just made no sense to him. Not the way it did for Raffie or Mimi. 

He tries memorizing the words she said to him and parroting them back to her. It works! For a while... 

He also remembers the walks to the park and how they'd listen to him about transparent people. 

They probably think he's too young to notice the change. 

His mom's slowly cut back on their nightly reading sessions opting for game night with his siblings. They were playing monopoly and that required a little too much reading for him to play. 

They haven't read together in the last 3 months. Maybe he's the only one keeping track. 

He still tells them about the transparent people and now he tells them about the shadowy people but now they simply nod out of time with what he says. They used to be better at pretending and nodding in time with what he said. 

His dad got mad at him once when he started crying about the shadow people when they were at the market. He shook him, just a little, just enough to make him feel woozy, looking red with embarrassment. Ruta felt bad about it. He felt really horrible about embarrassing his dad that he decided never to mention them again even when they got too close. 

The good news is he now had Count Von Bon Bon who listened and read aloud to him. He wasn't allowed inside the house because he was such a big bird but when they went outside he kept the shadow things away. 

He doesn’t need anyone else. He’ll be ok. 

\-------------

If you asked John Constantine how on Earth he found himself in the mess, he'd likely give you a dumbfounded look, shrug, and mumble something about being too sober. 

But in all honesty, how does one find themselves watching their 8-year-old charge about to throw hands with not one but two Green Lanterns who should know better? 

Ruta stood, small and imperious, with his little arm crossed and his head thrown back after a great laugh. "I'd like to see ya do it, dumb carrot headed shit!" 

Guy, looking as red as, well, Sinestro, looks like he's about to deck the kid. "Oh, I'm gonna," 

John with all the good sense he's got fumbles over to the tiny terror. "Sorry 'bout that lil' Ruta 'ere's just a bit nippy from 'avin' to wake up early. Yanno 'ow kids are,” He grabs the kid by his sweater who makes a little squawking noise not too different from his devastatingly posh familiar who would have been really helpful right now. The kid wriggles a little, trying to claw John's hand away from the sweater. He pauses and John thinks that maybe, just maybe, the kid had gotten some sense knocked into him.

Unfortunately for him, John Constantine is one unlucky bastard.

With the smarmiest grin plastered on his little face, Ruta slips out of the, admittedly, ill-fitting sweater. The kid basically sprinted back toward the lanterns who, by the way, still looked pissed as all hell. 

"Oh for the love of-" John is honestly going to pop a blood vessel. He grabs the kid's arm since the kid despite his speed hadn't made it far. 

Ruta did not have the expected reaction. He froze. Breath seizing. Body going rigid. John thought about letting go but thought better of it. 

"Ruta-" 

Ruta begins to thrash violently and make petulant noises. John rolls eyes even as the kid snarls a few colorful words. "Yer gonna hafta do bettern’ that lad if-"

CHOMP

"Sonuva! Zee, a little help would be appreciated, love,"

"Sorry John, I’ve got no clue about how Maya usually gets him to settle down,"

Well, that helped.

Justice League members gather in bewilderment as they watch Constantine let out a string of curses as he tries to pry Ruta off his arm. The kid's teeth were actually digging into his flesh. John is pretty sure he would rather be fighting off all the demon's he's encountered over the years than be here, right now, getting his flesh torn. 

Bats and Supes enter the room. Now, John normally didn't give a rat's ass what those two thought but there was a special kind of embarrassment that comes with a tantruming child. He now had a little more sympathy for people with kids in grocery stores. 

The next few seconds are hard to process. 

Bats discussing something about Earth's defenses with Supes wordlessly walks over to John, pats Ruta on the head, the kid- miraculously- relinquishes his death grip on John's arm, and in a disturbingly fluid motion Bats scoops him up into his arms, settles Ruta on to his hip, walks back to his conversation as if nothing happened. 

The kid makes a brief distressed noise and a weak attempt at fighting before huffing and wrapping his wreathy little arms around Bats’ neck as Bats rubs circles on his back. 

God, the kid looked so small all of a sudden. Had Ruta been that tiny this whole time? 

He looked a little relieved aside from his face which was red and screwed up like all his effort was being devoted to trying not to cry. His breath is still uneven but it was settling down. He’s limp against Bats. For once, he looked like he wasn't about to turn tail and run or to tell someone to fuck off or bite someone's face off.

Fuck, when was the last time the kid looked so relaxed?

The newer league members watch with a mix of awe and confusion while the older ones shake their heads and murmur something about not seeing that in a while. 

It takes a few minutes, the entire conversation actually, for Batman to realize that all his kids are too big for him to comfortably carry like this even with his size. He panics thinking he accidentally kidnapped a young child. It takes him a moment longer to realize who it is. 

"How the fuck did you manage that?" John finally stifles out, awe clear in his voice.

Batman glares at John for cursing in front of the kid.

"Wot? He’s said worse,"

"That’s cus you’re a fucking cunt," Ruta mumbles his cheek still smooshed into Bats' shoulder. Bats looks as stone-faced as ever but from the frown tugging at his lips he seemed mortified but he made a grunt that sounded more nostalgic than reprimanding. Batman adjusts his hold on the kid looking like he was honestly debating on whether to keep carrying the kid around and keep working or give him back to the clearly inexperienced Constantine. He decides it was probably best to give him back to Constantine but a part of him just really wanted to keep holding the little one trembling in his arms. When was the last time he held someone this small? It kind of reminded him of when Jason was small right down to the fowl mouth. 

Ruta clearly also doesn't want to let go. Bats is sturdy and surprisingly warm. He looked like he would cry if he let go. The kid’s knuckles were white from gripping Bats’ cowl for Christ’s sake. Sadly, Igris, his annoyingly posh familiar, shows up from who the fuck knows where. 

"Little prince, this is no way to behave," He admonishes in an eerie vernacular that was only barely understandable due to exposure. Ruta's face grows hot from embarrassment and with a nod he extricates himself from the caped crusader's arms. 

The kid definitely looks like he's about to cry. 

"Where the bloody hell have you been?" John asked. God, he needed a smoke. 

"I've been watching over Maya as the little prince had asked," John gives him a questioning look. "I got bored" The bird adds, shrugging in an oddly human manner. 

Ruta extricates himself looking sheepish but mostly tired. The kid has probably been stressed and on adrenaline for a while. The sudden feeling of safety just made him crash. 

John hesitantly wraps his arms around the kid. The kid freezes but hugs back hesitantly. John tries to lift the kid but the kid stiffens. John honestly had no idea how to hold this kid. He maneuvered his hands clumsily around the kid. Ruta made no objections but he was clearly uncomfortable. 

"No. You have to support both of his back and legs. Sometimes you have to lean back a bit to get them to so he leave into you- yeah just like that," Bats instructs, sounding oddly gentle. His usual gravel absent. It kind of scared John, to be honest, so he did his best to follow along. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------

At some point, Maya shows up after her ‘date’ with Damian- not much of date when there are a bunch of people watching you- and finds Bruce coaching John on how to hold a tired elementary schooler who was drooling on John's favorite beige coat. She tried her best to stifle a laugh. Thankfully, she didn't have to try too hard. 

"EXCUSE ME????? B, since when, were you a child whisperer?" Dick exclaims as dramatically as humanly possible. Damian and Tim radiated second-hand embarrassment while Jason just plays it like he doesn't know his older brother. Maya guessed that if Bruce wasn't used Dick he would be cringing too. 

"Nightwing, I've had more than 5 children. I believe I know how to handle children," 

"Uhuh- sure, B. Whatever you say,"

Bruce makes a neutral grunting noise. 

"Please tell me you're not adopting that one,"

"Of course no-"

"Yeah sure, B,"

"He's- He's Constantines,"

"Tt, father, you are a terrible influence,"

It is a spectacle to watch Bruce's kids team up on him. 

Maya shakes her head and laughs before heading over to John. 

“Well, bring me a biscuit and call me Christy Bats’ was right” He mutters rocking the feral child. Ruta’s little arms wrap around him a little tighter. 

“‘Course he is, Christy. He’s Batman,” Maya drawls smiling innocently.

"Please never leave him with me again,"

"Dunno, Christy. Looks like you're doing fine,"

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!


End file.
